How effective is facebook for business networking?
There are many people out there you view facebook as “for personal use only.” They avoid facebook for business use like the plague. The interesting thing, though, is that facebook has many tools for fabulous networking on the social networking website.
So when I am prompted with the question: “how effective is facebook for business networking?” My response is, very effective.
The trick is to first actually start using it for business.
It is important to understand where facebook came from in order to understand where it is going.
Facebook began as a social site for a few people at Harvard university to post up pictures of themselves to participate in “hot or not” style quizzes. It moved from its humble beginnings to become quite impressive as a college only social networking website.
Only two years ago, the site opened up its doors to the general public and allowed others to participate on the site.
Since then, the people at Facebook have been adding all kinds of new features and enhancements to the site in order to better accomodate a larger population of people hanging out at facebook.com.
With this in mind, you can see that Facebook is ever expanding into new areas, and one of these areas is business. The site now supports a wide variety of ways to advertise your business and yourself on facebook. So take advantage of it, its there for the taking!
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Post your thoughts in the comments below. I know I have quite the opinion, but I understand that there are other opinions out there. What do you think?
Keeping your success in focus,
-Coach Kolansky
I couldn’t agree more — and there’s no shortage of advice for businesses looking to tap social media to enhance their profile and brand. Sometimes we learn best by learning from others and to that end, I’ve written a post to look at one hard-hitting small business in the DC area that is making in-roads in the social media world: http://twurl.nl/75jm70
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
This is an interesting topic. At the beginning of the year, I decided to really work the social networking tool of LinkedIn and to start a blog, http://peggyduffy.blogspot.com/ . I also set up a Facebook account in response to my niece’s invitation. I thought, what a great way to keep up with family and see their kids’ pictures.
However, I have noticed Facebook being used more more and more for business, especially now with the handy Share tools, so I find my Facebook page becoming more integrated. I’ve debated separate pages, one for business, one for personal, but ultimately will probably keep it linked. After all, I talk with clients and potential clients about aspects of my personal life; I think it gives business people a fuller picture of who I am and why they’d like to work with me.
I agree. Facebook can be very effective. I’ve found the trick is to keep it just personal enough for them to get to know you without it being all about business. That way they don’t feel that they are being “sold to”. On the flip side, you don’t ever want to get too personal. People may be turned off if they hear you woke up drunk!
I agree. All business on facebook seems cold. People don’t get to know you as a real person. The greatest responses that I had to my business newsletters was when I added a personal note and talked about my trip to Italy. People want to deal with a real person, and they want to know a little bit about our lives.
I think it depends. If you are a restaurant or small business and develop a page for that business, then yes. It is a good place to let your business have an online presence to post events, pictures, and gain additional recognition. If your interested in networking with other executives or individuals, then no. Facebook is a place for people to keep in touch with their friends and family to share updates and pictures. To attempt to gain access to their “network” for business purposes is stepping across the line and in my opinion- annoying. However, you do have the ability to create a “work” list of friends to adjust your privacy settings and separate your job from your personal life. But in my opinion- still annoying.
Thanks for the great information, I really love to spend time here going through these posts
Facebook is an absolutely essential part of business marketing and leadership strategies, but is at the end of the day just another social media channel to be used appropriately for its strengths and weaknesses…all online marketing should consider integrated, balanced use of all relevant new media channels – Find out more from Northern Virginia Internet Marketing and Social Media SMEs at KME Internet Marketing in the DC area.
I agree. All business on facebook seems cold. People don’t get to know you as a real person. The greatest responses that I had to my business newsletters was when I added a personal note and talked about my trip to Italy. People want to deal with a real person, and they want to know a little bit about our lives.
I agree. Facebook can be very effective. I’ve found the trick is to keep it just personal enough for them to get to know you without it being all about business. That way they don’t feel that they are being “sold to”. On the flip side, you don’t ever want to get too personal. People may be turned off if they hear you woke up drunk!